Nairobi Gen Z activists and Indigenous assembly members challenge and inspire each other

Thirteen indigenous communities from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and DRC came together in Kenya in October 2024 at the 6th East Africa Women-led Indigenous Assembly. The focus was on carbon market land grabs, which these communities are only beginning to grapple with; women’s economic empowerment; legal strategies; and strategies of song, theatre and storytelling.

Held over five days at the Ogiek of Mau Cultural Centre, in the Mau Forest, Nakuru County, the assembly enabled the communities to share their struggles to secure their community lands, and to recognise the crucial role of women both in these struggles and in sustaining their communities’ wellbeing and culture.

We need to free our women for society to be free. We are calling this ‘a women-led assembly’, and we are not leaving men behind. We are happy that men are here willing to support a women-led assembly - Teresa Chemosop of the Mount Elgon Ogiek

A group of Gen Z social justice activists from Nairobi – both women and men – spoke at the assembly, relaying how they overturned the unjust finance bill by demonstrating in Nairobi. They overtly and humorously challenged patriarchy and called for women’s emancipation, saying things that the indigenous youth can find hard to say, and encouraging everyone to broaden their vision to include state transformation. 

Indigenous assembly representatives of all ages – while appreciating the messages, passion, singing and theatre that Gen Z brought – also highlighted the need for communities to stay deeply connected to their culture and their lands, including by keeping their focus on self-determination rather than the nation, and by deciding for themselves how their cultures might change and what they might keep.

The inspiration flowed both ways as Gen Z were inspired to hear of indigenous peoples’ struggles, such as the story of 40,000 indigenous Maasai blockading roads at Ngorongoro.

FPP has supported the assembly since it began.